PRO Courses Hot Guides Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade QUIZZES All Quizzes Hot Love Quizzes Personality Quizzes Trivia Quizzes Taylor Swift Quizzes EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard Trending Forums Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Quizzes Love Quizzes Personality Quizzes Fun Games Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth LOG IN Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. Facebook Google wikiHow Account No account yet? Create an account Browse Articles Quizzes & Games All Quizzes Hot Personality Quizzes Dating Simulator Learn Something New Support wikiHow Log in / Sign up Computers and Electronics Website Application Instructions Google Applications Last Updated: February 19, 2026 Fact Checked How to Make a Google Account Use an Existing Email Frequently Asked Questions This article was co-authored by Mitch Harris and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Dillon . Mitch Harris is an IT Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,242,859 times. Do you want a new Google account? A Google account is the key to accessing all of Google’s products and services, most of which are free. Once you create a Google account, you can access tools like Google Drive, Gmail , and Google Docs , as well sync Chrome browsing data across all of your devices. Signing up for an account is a quick and simple process, and you can create more than one! This wikiHow article walks you through signing up for a Google account on your computer, Android, iPhone, or iPad. Go to https://accounts.google.com/signin . Click Create account and choose an account type. Enter your name, birthdate, and gender. Enter your desired username. Create a strong password. Add a recovery email (if desired). Agree to Google's terms of service and privacy policy. How to Make a Google Account 1 Go to https://accounts.google.com/signin . You can do this on any browser, even the browser on your smartphone or tablet! If you're already signed into a Google account and you want to make a new one , click your profile picture in the top-right corner and click Add another account . If you're already signed into a Google account and you want to make a new one , click your profile picture in the top-right corner and click Add another account . 2 Click Create account . It's next to the Next button. [1] X Research source Advertisement 3 Choose an account type. You can create an account for your work or business, a child, or for your personal use. The required fields change a little depending on what you're creating an account for, but they mostly follow the same steps. For my personal use: Use if you want to make an account for you to use personally. For my child: This type of account can have restrictions on it based on age or ratings. This is a great option if you want to manage your own child's Google account. For work or my business: Use this if you want to use Google as a business. You'll have the ability to connect your real-life business so people can find it online. For my personal use: Use if you want to make an account for you to use personally. For my child: This type of account can have restrictions on it based on age or ratings. This is a great option if you want to manage your own child's Google account. For work or my business: Use this if you want to use Google as a business. You'll have the ability to connect your real-life business so people can find it online. 4 Add your first and last name. Your first name is required, but your last name is optional. 5 Fill out your birthday and gender. Google uses your birthday to ensure you're old enough for certain age-restricted content or services. [2] X Research source Your gender is used to personalize your Google experience with proper pronouns. [3] X Research source Google allows you to choose between Male , Female , Rather not say , or Custom for your gender. If you opt not to specify a gender, Google will use gender-neutral terms (i.e., they/them pronouns). Google allows you to choose between Male , Female , Rather not say , or Custom for your gender. If you opt not to specify a gender, Google will use gender-neutral terms (i.e., they/them pronouns). 6 Come up with a username. By default, your username will become your new Gmail address (it will be [yourusername]@gmail.com). To learn how to use an existing email to make a Google account, see the steps below . Instead of giving you a text box to fill out, sometimes Google will provide you with a few username suggestions right off the bat. To choose your own, click Create your own Gmail address . If your username is taken or not available, you will be given several related options, or you can try a different one. To learn how to use an existing email to make a Google account, see the steps below . Instead of giving you a text box to fill out, sometimes Google will provide you with a few username suggestions right off the bat. To choose your own, click Create your own Gmail address . If your username is taken or not available, you will be given several related options, or you can try a different one. 7 Create a password. If you want to see the password as you type it, click the Show password checkbox. Make sure to create a strong password that you can remember . 8 Add a recovery email. If you forget your Google account password, you can use your recovery email to easily reset it. If you don't want to add a recovery email, click Skip . 9 Agree to the terms of service and privacy policy. Take the time to read all of the terms of service and privacy policy so that you are aware of what Google can and can’t do with your personal information. Click More options to change your account settings for web and app activity saving, ad personalization, and YouTube history saving. After clicking I agree , the account creation process is complete. If you want to make multiple accounts, make sure you're logged out and repeat the process. Click More options to change your account settings for web and app activity saving, ad personalization, and YouTube history saving. After clicking I agree , the account creation process is complete. If you want to make multiple accounts, make sure you're logged out and repeat the process. Use an Existing Email 1 Go to https://accounts.google.com/signin . You can do this on any browser, even the browser on your smartphone or tablet! If you're already signed into a Google account and you want to make a new one, click your profile picture in the top-right corner and click Add another account . If you're already signed into a Google account and you want to make a new one, click your profile picture in the top-right corner and click Add another account . 2 Click Create account . It's next to the Next button. [4] X Research source 3 Choose an account type. You can create an account for your work or business, a child, or for your personal use. The required fields change a little depending on what you're creating an account for, but they mostly follow the same steps. For my personal use: Use if you want to make an account for you to use personally. For my child: This type of account can have restrictions on it based on age or ratings. This is a great option if you want to manage your own child's Google account. For work or my business: Use this if you want to use Google as a business. You'll have the ability to connect your real-life business so people can find it online. For my personal use: Use if you want to make an account for you to use personally.

For my child: This type of account can have restrictions on it based on age or ratings. This is a great option if you want to manage your own child's Google account. For work or my business: Use this if you want to use Google as a business. You'll have the ability to connect your real-life business so people can find it online. 4 Add your first and last name. Your first name is required, but your last name is optional. 5 Fill out your birthday and gender. Google uses your birthday to ensure you're old enough for certain age-restricted content or services. [5] X Research source Your gender is used to personalize your Google experience with proper pronouns. [6] X Research source Google allows you to choose between Male , Female , Rather not say , or Custom for your gender. If you opt not to specify a gender, Google will use gender-neutral terms (i.e., they/them pronouns). Google allows you to choose between Male , Female , Rather not say , or Custom for your gender. If you opt not to specify a gender, Google will use gender-neutral terms (i.e., they/them pronouns). 6 Click Use your existing email . This option is next to the Next button. 7 Enter your email address. You cannot use a Gmail email address for this step; it must be a non-Gmail address. 8 Enter the code sent to your email. Google will send a verification code to the email you entered. Get the verification code and enter it on this screen. 9 Create a password. If you want to see the password as you type it, click the Show password checkbox. Make sure to create a strong password that you can remember . 10 Agree to the terms of service and privacy policy. Take the time to read all of the terms of service and privacy policy so that you are aware of what Google can and can’t do with your personal information. Click More options to change your account settings for web and app activity saving, ad personalization, and YouTube history saving. After clicking I agree , the account creation process is complete. If you want to make multiple accounts, make sure you're logged out and repeat the process. Click More options to change your account settings for web and app activity saving, ad personalization, and YouTube history saving. After clicking I agree , the account creation process is complete. If you want to make multiple accounts, make sure you're logged out and repeat the process. Frequently Asked Questions 1 Can I make a Google account without a phone number? Yes, you can make a Google account without a phone number. In the past, Google asked for your phone number for verification purposes. However, a phone number is no longer required to set up a Google account. 2 Can a 12 year old have a Google account? Yes, a 12 year old can have a Google account as long as their parent creates the account and manages it through Family Link. [7] X Research source 3 Is a Google account free? Yes, Google accounts are free. The exception is if you pay for more storage with a [ Google One subscription ]. 4 Is a Google account the same as a Gmail account? Kind of. Technically speaking, if you have a Gmail account, you also have a Google account. However, Gmail is just one of the many services you can access with your Google account. If you create an account with any Google service, you can use that same account to sign into and use any Google service (such as Google Drive , YouTube , etc.). [8] X Research source 5 How do I create another Google account? To create another Google account, you can sign out of your current Google account and go to https://accounts.google.com/signin to create a new one. You can also click on your profile picture when using any Google service (in the upper right corner) and click Add another account to create a new account. You can then easily switch between Google accounts when using Google services. Question How can you protect your Google account? Mitch Harris IT Expert Mitch Harris is an IT Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University. Mitch Harris IT Expert Expert Answer Two-factor authentication is one of the best things that you can do—just enable it under your account security settings. If anyone tries to hack into your Google account, you'll receive a text or email asking you to verify the suspicious login activity. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 18 Helpful 16 Question What is the difference between a Google account and a Gmail account? Community Answer When you create a Google account, you are also creating a Gmail address. Your Google account serves as your login for Gmail, YouTube, and all other Google products and services. Therefore, a Gmail account is essentially a Google account that comes with an email address. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 39 Helpful 106 Question Must I use my real name when I create an account? Community Answer No, you are not required to use your real name. You can choose any name or identifier for your account. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 26 Helpful 48 After creating your Google account, you can set up your Gmail account so you can send and receive emails. [9] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0 You Might Also Like ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27441?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&oco=0 ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1733224?hl=en ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27442?sjid=6440717700520423816-NC#gender&zippy=%2Cgender ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27441?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&oco=0 ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1733224?hl=en ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/27442?sjid=6440717700520423816-NC#gender&zippy=%2Cgender ↑ https://support.google.com/families/answer/7103338?hl=en ↑ https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722060?hl=en ↑ https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en About This Article Send fan mail to authors Reader Success Stories Alfred Brooks May 5, 2016 "I am always getting an invalid password message. I always have to create a new account. This shows me how. Thanks." Is this article up to date? Dilini Balasooriya Quizzes & Games You Might Also Like Trending Articles Trending Articles Take the Quiz. Face the Truth. 🔥 Are You More... 🤔 Featured Videos Hot Takes Only 🔥 Your Daily Dose of Fun 🎉 Computers and Electronics Website Application Instructions Google Applications Do Not Sell or Share My Info Not Selling Info wikiHow Tech Help Pro: Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve